Jan Egeland

Jan Egeland is Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Norway’s largest humanitarian NGO with more than 5000 employees. He is responsible for the organization’s activities in more than 25 countries. As Secretary General of NRC, Jan Egeland is a courageous spokesperson for the displaced people in the world. Through his career, Egeland has built experience and expertise that make him uniquely qualified to lead the organization towards its vision of ’Rights Respected and People Protected’.

Egeland took up his post as Secretary General in NRC in August 2013. He came from the position as Europe Director of Human Rights Watch. Prior to joining Human Rights Watch, he was the executive director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs.

As UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator from 2003 to 2006, Egeland helped reform the global humanitarian response system and organized the international response to the Asian Tsunami, and crises from Darfur to the Democratic Republic of Congo and to Lebanon.

In 2006, Time magazine named him one of the 100 “people who shape our world.” From 1999 to 2002, he was the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Colombia, and from 1990 to 1997 he was State Secretary in the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.